Old Town mill sale news met with optimism
This week’s announcement that Expera Specialty Solutions has reached an agreement to buy the Old Town paper mill has been met with optimism from paper industry officials and experts.
Robert Rice, a faculty member at University of Maine’s School of Forest Resources, told the Bangor Daily News that KPS Capital Partners, a New York-based investment firm that launched Expera last year, has a solid track record. He added that the “parent company ... is probably about as good as we are going to get.”
Expera, which runs four specialty paper mills in Wisconsin, said earlier this week that it plans to make a significant capital investment in the Old Town mill. A company spokeswoman told the BDN that Expera plans to restart the mill and restore the 180 jobs that were lost when the mill was unexpectedly shuttered in mid-August.
“They are a specialty products company [and] not subject to the same commodity market forces that we normally see in the printing and writing papers grades, and these guys know how to make paper,” Rice said. “They have been at it for years. These guys in Wisconsin are solid to the core. They will work well within the existing mill management in Old Town that know how to make pulp and paper.”
Industry officials like Lincoln Paper and Tissue LLC co-owner Keith Van Scotter and United Steelworkers Union representative Duane Lugdon also offered optimism on the pending sale.
“Our confidence in KPS and Expera is extremely high as a result of our past experience with them and the depth of commitment they make to the assets they own,” Lugdon said.
Read more
Old Town mill suspends operations 'indefinitely,' lays off 180
Shuttered Old Town mill owes over $2M in taxes
Old Town mill buyer vows to restore jobs
Most Recent
Most Recent
Comments